Peninsula readers' letters: July 31

From Daily News Group readers

Posted:
07/30/2014 06:16:49 PM PDT

Updated:
07/31/2014 12:16:27 AM PDT

Strategic targets

Dear Editor: When one examines the division of casualties from the war in Gaza one finds several interesting conclusions that shed new light on the situation. First, 80.2 percent of the Gazans reported killed were men and 19.2 percent women. The number of those killed under the age of 15 was 13.5 percent. Since women are about 50 percent of the population and children under 15 are 45 percent of the population, the conclusion is that Israel is not indiscriminately targeting the general population as Hamas is in their bombing of Israel's cities. Rather, Israel is choosing targets and warning the Gazans to leave the area.

Second, in terms of ages, 60 percent of the males killed were between the ages of 15 and 29, although this group makes up only 29 percent of the male population. This is the prime age for fighters. Since the Hamas fighters do not wear uniforms except when they are parading, it would be difficult to say what percentage of the male casualties were fighters. What is clear is that where women and children are going to safer ground, the casualties are reduced; and where men of fighting age prefer to remain and engage the Israelis, the casualties exceed what one would expect from a carpet bombing strategy. The Israelis are attacking strategic targets and notifying the Gazans of their plans.

Phil Smaller,

Palo Alto

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Medical treatment

Dear Editor: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict provides some strange interpersonal happenings that could lead to some blessed international happenings. The wife of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has gone to Israel for specialized surgical treatment. The granddaughter of Amal Haniyah, prime minister of Gaza, also went to an Israeli hospital for treatment. These leading Palestinian figures entrusted the lives and bodies of those among their nearest and dearest to Israeli medical teams and yet they initiated or were complicit with the Gazan policy of launching missiles through the air or terrorists through tunnels to kill or injure Israelis, some of whom could be family members of or the surgeons who had worked to improve the lives of the Palestinian patients. One wonders whether the medical treatments could arouse any feelings of gratitude and kinship that might lead to a two-state good neighbor policy.